Homestar Real Estate Services, Inc. Review

We worked with Eric Larson to both find a new home and sell our old home. Eric was a pleasure to work with, very personable, knowledgeable and gave you the feeling he really cared about giving you the best service he could. You really felt he wanted to find a home that was just right for you and you would be happy with. We had some specific needs and he made sure the houses we looked at provided as many of these as could be provided. You felt like he really cared about getting you the right house not just selling you a house. We were both buying and selling a house and Eric made practical suggestions on how to improve the house we were selling so it looked good and was presented in the most favorable light. He returned calls promptly, listened to your needs and concerns and provided suggestions and answers that were practical and understandable. You never felt pressured and he was always willing to spend the time to listen. We would recommend Eric Larson and HomeStar Brokers to anyone considering buying or selling a home.

Sean has been great and super helpful. Thank you for making it easy and being helpful through the home buying process:) would highly recommend to anyone looking to own a home!

Gina Ott was exceptional to work with! She was very diligent and put a lot of care and time into helping us find our home. Gina was so helpful and guided us through the entire process. I would absolutely suggest Gina to anyone buying or selling a home.

Janell Kolenc with HomeStar Brokers was a joy to work with. She was very professional, effective and prompt with every aspect of our house sale. From the first call I made to her to the final signing, Janell worked tirelessly, making this a positive and easy experience.
Thank you for making the sale of our home a great success!

Super PLEASED with Gina Ott and her services. Gina went above and beyond on every aspect of the sale. Her attention and knowledge to the smaller details is critical and we would not of thought of 50% of it without Gina. Even now after the sale is over she is still working on our behalf. Well Done Gina and Thank YOU!

Gina was the best,,, great attention to detail ,, excellent responce time anytime we ask a question . Gina even checked the mail when needed and was available to meet with the inspectors or any repair person that was scheduled to come to the house.
If we list a house in the future we would ask Gina for help in selling or purchasing a new residents in the greater Salem area.

Thanks so much for the great service.

Ray & Teresa Carson

We have bought and sold several homes over the years and I can honestly say that the experience of selling the Oregon home was the best we have ever had. While unforeseen issues will always arise in any situation of selling a home, I always felt confident that this team of realtors would take action swiftly and competently.And since we were already living elsewhere, we relied on their judgement and expertise to see any issues through. Our home sold within a reasonable time frame as well, and if you listen to your Brokers, yours will, too!

For anyone who values integrity, morals, accountability, responsibility or just basic customer service then stay away from Amy Steele.
Before we signed the contract with Amy & Homestar brokers there was nothing wrong, but after we signed EVERYTHING went downhill. It started small like the answer to the questions we had that made no sense & her lack of general realtor knowledge. Then problems got bigger, like lacking knowledge of the comps in our area, listing us too high, not being available as she was out of town every weekend so we had her list my number & I set up most the viewings myself, including the one that sold our home.
Amy struggled to keep on top of dates, most importantly the date of foreclosure on the preliminary title report for the home we were buying. We had even taken the time to ask her about it but throughout the process it became clear she NEVER read the report & when pushed she even went as far as claiming it wasn t on there despite us being able to prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt.
When confronted she said it s all the other realtors fault & that when she talked to him he told her it was fine so she did her part. This was a theme of Amy always taking the word of people during the legal transaction & never getting proper documentation, proof or even following up to ensure it was correct.
The absolute worst part of her neglect was after hearing we lost our dream home due to her negligence we then found out that she did not protect our current home by making the sale contingent on the procurement of our new home so, in essence in 2 wks we were about to be homeless. When asked why she didn t put it in there her reply was well I just thought it was all going to go through . After toting 13yrs of experience like a badge of honor you would think she would know that everything you do in this line of work should be documented.
We had reached out to the principal broker well before everything caught fire, we told him a list of things that happened & that we were uncomfortable with the transaction. We also politely explained our perspective & how horrible our experience was. Eric, the principal broker made no attempt to EVER call us to hear our side/complaints. We did eventually get a email but only after we had written Amy letting her know we would go forward with the sale (not that we had legal choice) but that we would not be using her for the next purchase.
With a potential loss to his bottom line we weren t surprised to get a reply from Eric instead of Amy. What was surprising was to see his email full of lies (despite that we could prove everything), his defensive nature regarding Amy, his complete & total lack of empathy, the fact that he didnt even ONCE ask us a single question about any of the things we said happened. It was completely clear he didn t care nor did he want any part in making us feel like we meant anything more than the paycheck he was going to get from our sale.
Eric did eventually offer us $700 to cover inspections costs which he called good faith money but then told us we could pick it up BUT only after the funding of the sale, which we felt was just another way of holding us hostage in a already legally precarious situation they were responsible for putting us in. We truly felt powerless & the $700 was insulting compared to what we lost in the transaction.
So once again feeling the only thing we had was our voice I wrote a reply. I plead for him to look at us as the people we are & try to understand our perspective. I directly addressed the lies letting him know we had proof but at every turn we were shown how cold & calculated he was. Towards the end of this transaction they had stopped answering our questions completely.
This is a small part of our story with character limits but we truly hope this review helps even at least one person from falling victim. We have text messages & documents to prove everything in this review.

The broker listened to me and got the idea of what I was looking for. He then accurately evaluated my property and sold it for my price in short order. A few problems arose and he was quick to get them resolved.

Our agent was very respectful and responsive. It was our first time buying a home and he answered a million questions and offered his expertise at every step. We are very thankful for having stumbled upon him.

I will definitely use Peter Kolnec as a realtor again and refer him to my friends. He went above and beyond for us as he does all of his clients. We looked for a house for a few months and had realtors that didn't work for us. Peter was looking, finding and fighting for our business. When we finally found a house to buy it needed work and I only had a few days before I had to leave town after closing. The day we moved in Peter was already there cleaning and helped us rip out all of the carpet. He is honest and devoted to his clients and it shows in his actions. I never felt uncomfortable asking to go see yet another house. He wanted us to find the house that was right for us. He is also very connected in the community teaching us about the best restaurants... He had contacts with lots of contractors that did good work and gave us good prices on the work we wanted hired out. If you choose to use Peter as a realtor, you will not only have a good experience but gain a friend.

I was in the market for a home and the agent named Peter was very rude and said "I don't think you can afford this house because you're black" very unprofessional!

Excellent team of professionals with a stellar reputation in town. Always great to work with!

Awesome experience working with John. He knocked it out of the park with his knowledge and support throughout the whole process.

If you are looking for a seasoned professional realtor, Gina Ott is your contact. Gina helped my husband and I look for a home to buy in Oregon for over a year as we lived in California. I guess you could say we were picky, but that didn't dissuade Gina from offering her dedication, unrivaled commitment and perseverance in finding us our dream home. Gina never hesitated to visit any and all homes we were interested in seeing from a far. She would visit the homes at a moment's notice and send us detailed videos so it was like we were there with her. I cannot express how much she did for us. She went above and beyond which is rare now a days. Outstanding customer service, professionalism, true kindness and a sense of humor is what you will find with Gina Ott. She started as our realtor and ended up our friend. THANK YOU!

Sally Huggins of Home Star did an exceptional job representing our property. She was closely involved throughout the process. We could not have asked for a better partner and friend in selling our home.

Dora McCormick was our Agent who assisted us in selling our West Salem House.

Dora was / is very knowledgeable, who genuinely cares about her clients.

Dora not only listens, but takes the time to answer your questions & concerns.

Dora is very responsive (unless she s showing a house or with a client) to all text, phone calls & emails.

I cannot recommend Dora enough.

You won t be sorry if you reach out to her.

Jennifer & Eric are amazing. My wife and I where impressed with their honesty and follow through most of all, but their friendliness was an added bonus. We will be using the again when we find our forever home.

Great company to work with! Our agent Gina Ott was amazing to work with! She was very thorough, helpful, and always available for any questions. This was our first time purchasing a home and she made the process easy and stress free. She always had our best interest in mind. We would highly recommend this real estate company and Gina Ott to our friends and family!

Janell is such a pleasure to work with. We ran into several issues with buying our new home, and she handled them like a true pro. She really fights for her clients best interests. Her cool/calm demeanor really is an asset when things go sideways. Use HomeStar! You won't be disappointed.

I bought, rented and sold my home through HomeStar Brokers. What a great experience every step of the way. I would encourage everyone to use Janelle and Peter Kolnec what a dynamic team. I had been disappointed with a few realtors until I found them. They went above and beyond, What a great find - wish I could take them with me to SC.

Such a great experience with this company! Our realtor listened to our wish list and paid attention to our budget and we got into the perfect house for us. Even more impressive was the fact that we moved from one state to another and our realtor wasn't put off by us starting to look 9 months before we thought we would move. We ended up moving in 5 months and she did a fantastic job of helping us with the whole process. I couldn't be happier with our experience and the help we got with HomeStar!

I had an amazing experience! I used Jennifer Larson and she was quick to respond this local knowledge and patience. I will be using them for all my real estate needs in the future!

Very happy with our experience selling our home. Everyone was responsive and the process was seamless. They were always available to answer questions. We would definitely recommend.

Gina went above and beyond to make the process of finding our forever home easy and efficient. She is extremely responsive and has an excellent eye for evaluating potential homes against your needs/wants. This combined with her friendly and warm personality makes her the best choice in the area.

We were very fortunate to have Jennifer and Eric Larson represent us as sellers. Their hard work and expertise made a very difficult situation run smoothly. We highly recommend them to any buyer or seller who wants someone who will work for them until the job is accomplished. And still be around after the job is done if you need help.

Karen Lasko

Gina Ott - realtor from homestar has done a great job in helping us get our first home, here in Salem, OR. She was always on top of listings of homes that went out in the market.
She is really an awesome person. We really valued her opinion and experience. :)

Sally Huggins is the best! She was patient, knowledgeable, and was very supportive when a last minute glitch on the part of a third party nearly caused me to have a meltdown! She knows real estate ins and outs and I recommend her highly whether you are buying or selling. She also
handled a purchase for friends and proved to be invaluable to them.

When we bought our home in Salem Jennifer was just so genuine and had an amazing ability to gauge what we wanted and where we wanted to live. At one point we made an offer on a house and were pretty excited, only to receive a call from Jennifer saying "You don't want that house, I just found out that it is in a flood plain" although only the corner of the house was actually in the flood plain, our insurance would have costed us an additional hundred per month, yikes! So a few days later she found us a house in a great South Salem neighborhood and only 5 minutes from my husbands work. It was great, my husband is quite the negotiator and he made some pretty lengthy demands and Jennifer didn't even bat an eye, she just got it done. When My husband got an amazing offer at a new company out of state, we turned to Jennifer at Homestar once more. She sold our home for a decent profit and scary fast. If you are looking for a great real estate broker, look no further than HomeStar Brokers.

We worked with Leslie Cutler and Dora McCormick to find and purchase our home. Both of them were extremely helpful, patient and devoted to our task. We looked at approximately 30 - 40 houses before finding the perfect one for us. Thank you so much Leslie and Dora! It was great working with you. We couldn't be happier. Highly recommended!

I have worked with Eric Larson for my last two home purchases and for the sale of my last home. I would never use another agent. He has always gone above and beyond for me, even going as far as spending hours on a random Saturday helping take care of an inspection issue while I was at home! He is always available by phone if I have any questions. Most importantly, his knowledge, experience, and positivity made my most recent purchase one amazing experience I will never forget.